Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, once again categorically said that the recognition of the statehood of Palestine was not a reward or favor to the Palestinian people, but a right they deserved. The UN Secretary General has maintained this position from the beginning. French President Immanuel Macron and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week echoed Guterres´s position and formally announced recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state. They joined more than 140 other countries that also recognized the statehood of Palestine. Besides the USA, the only significant country that has yet to recognize Palestine is Germany. Had they not committed a genocidal crime against the Jews in the past, they would have recognized the sovereignty of Palestine much earlier. However, they are significantly helping the Palestinians in other forms. Italy`s Melony is a Trump alley. But she has not expressed outright support for Israel.
In contrast to the French-British stand, Israel is desperately trying to establish that recognition of Palestine is a reward for Hamas terrorism. And the US is echoing the Israeli narrative. At times, one becomes bewildered: who follows whom – Israel follows the US or vice versa. Indeed, Washington still adheres to the dictates of the AIPEC.
Impediments created by Israel
Some pro-Israeli analysts plead that, due to some unfulfilled conditions, a Palestinian state cannot be recognized now. They cite that Palestine lacks a definite territory with a demarcated boundary; it also lacks a functional government and an army to defend its sovereignty. They avoid mentioning the fact that when Israel was created by the big powers in 1948, the land that was under British mandate was divided into two parts, one for Israel and the other for the Palestinian people. Approximately 62% of the territory was allocated for the Palestinian Arabs. Secondly, the pre-1967 borders are internationally recognized as the territory of these two states. The UN adopted a resolution in this regard decades ago. Israel has built several illegal settlements by occupying Palestinian land. They intend to split the Palestinian land into non-contiguous and fragmented territories so that it becomes impossible to make a viable Palestine. They are adopting the “Bantustan” policy of the then apartheid South African government. Furthermore, they aim to alter the demographic composition of the area.
Palestine had a functional and very active government when Yasir Arafat was alive and in power in the West Bank. A more radical organization, Hamas, came to power in Gaza through an election. And very interestingly, in the beginning, Israel gave tacit support to Hamas with the intention of curbing Fatah and Yasir Arafat`s popularity and authority. They incited divisions among Palestinians and followed the U.S. tactics of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan to defeat the Russians. Now it has become a boomerang for them.
The Palestinians do not have an army because the Israeli-U.S. axis does not allow it. All have seen the power of the Palestinian militia. If allowed to form a non-terrorist army, the future Palestinian government can have it very quickly.
The Israel-Palestine problem did not start on October 7
The only valid point Israel has is that Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on innocent Israelis. They killed approximately 1200 people and abducted around 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers as hostages. No One can support these terrorist acts. However, the courageous UN Secretary-General has a point when he said that October 7 did not happen in a vacuum, or from a void. And the Israel-Palestine conflict did not start on 7th October 2023 either.
Israeli crime is much bigger. Since 1948, they have killed tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, uprooted more than a million Arabs from their homes, occupied their lands, and destroyed their ancestral houses. Besides, thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned. Even Israeli retaliatory atrocities have exceeded too much than the so-called principle of proportionality. In the name of self-defense, Israel is carrying out state terrorism and committing genocide.
Behind Israel`s continuous atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, the illegal annexation of Arab land, and the establishment of new Jewish settlements on the illegally occupied Palestinian territories lie two main intentions. First, they want to “kill” the two-state solution, and ultimately, the expansionist ultra-orthodox Zionist quarter intends to fulfill their dream of establishing a Greater Israel – from the Jordan River to the Sea. The Likud Party, in its 1977 election manifesto, declared that “Between the Sea and the Jordan (River) there will only be Israeli sovereignty.” Benjamin Netanyahu repeated it very recently. Interestingly, when Israel was created, Arab Palestinians were opposed to the two-state solution. The Jews supported it. However, Palestinian leaders changed this position in the early 80`s. The Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, first accepted the concept of the two-state solution during the 1982 Arab Summit. They repeated it in their Declaration of Independence, proclaimed on Nov 15, 1988. When Labour leader Yitzhak Rabin came to power in Tel Aviv for the second time in the early 90`s, Israel took, to some extent, a pragmatic attitude on the issue. In 1993, the Israeli government and the PLO, headed by Yasir Arafat, agreed on a plan to implement a two-state solution as part of the Oslo Accords. The extremist Zionist groups became alarmed and started a tremendous movement against this peace initiative. Ultimately, he was murdered by Yigal Amir, a fanatic Jew who opposed the Oslo Accords. Subsequently, the Likud came to power, and the Oslo initiative became dead. Likud further intensified its extremist policy.
The U.S. Role
The only country that is unconditionally patronizing Israel is the United States of America. Even her most obedient European ally, the United Kingdom, has at last departed from Washington on this issue. Out of five permanent members of the Security Council, four have joined the rest of the world in their demand for recognition of the Palestinian state without further delay. Many political observers believe that Trump and the US cannot indefinitely avoid the inevitability of the statehood of Palestine. The influence of AIPEC is dwindling in the United States. Unconditional support for Israel is fast evaporating among the members of the younger generation. Even the War Industries received the alarm sounds. Some powerful and wealthy Middle Eastern countries are turning to China for arms supply. The divide-and-rule policy of the U.S. in the region is not working so well now. Egypt and Jordan are afraid because the Israelis are trying to transfer the Gaza and West Bank problems to them. The Saudis cannot risk internal rifts and chaos by siding with the Israelis. Above all, voices are raised to bring the US under judicial scrutiny for its collaboration with Israeli war crimes. The US might not be immune, though it is not a signatory to the ICC documents. Will Trump be willing to join Netanyahu, who is now under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes? Narcissist Trump lives in a delusional stage when he dreams of getting a Nobel Peace Prize. Renowned Israeli columnist Gideon Levy recently wrote, “If Netanyahu and Trump deserve a prize, it is the genocide prize.” Everybody would agree with Levy that Trump could end the war with a single phone call to Netanyahu, asking him to stop it. Who knows that this might really bring him a Nobel Prize?
Let there be no illusion that, although these recognitions by some major powers have a great symbolic value, they will remain hollow until Palestine can function as a real and viable independent state. Follow-up steps must be taken urgently.